The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-11-24
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

"A brand of blasting powder is
marked .f. FL and the marking proba-
bly, has the same meaning as in music
very loud.
-Fiberite is new insulating ma
terial made from wood pulp. and is be-
ing used for storage cells and by
various electrical concerns. Il is said
to give satisfaction.
In Great Britain 64.09S factories
are registered, and 1890 workshops.
The inspectors of shops and factories
last year made ia, PA visits TO see that
the laws were in force. There are fifty
six inspectors in all.
The collection of preserved hum
ming-birds in the British Museum now
comprises at least ten thousand skins.
The finest collection in this country is
that which has been presented to the
American Museum of Natural History
in this city by Mr.. ID. q. Elliott, which
contains about two thousand speci-
mens.-M Y Ledger.
The remains of no less than fifty
four species of Towering plants from
mummy wrappings in Egypt have been
identified. The flowers have been
wonderfully preserved, even the delicate
violet color of the larkspur and the
scarlet OF the poppy, the chlorophyl in
the leaves. and the sugar in the raiSins,
remaining.-ArbGnSa,D TrHUc'er.
"A member of the Paris Geographical
Society suggests that instead of de-
posting provisions and other stores for
Arctic explorers in cairns or rocky
structures above ground. they ought TO
be placed in subterranean stations ex-
excavated for the purpose. By the
establishments of such stations in favor
able seasons the facilities for Polar ex-
plOrations might be greatly increased.
N. Y. Ledger.
Ono of the largest wind motors in
existence is used for driving Touring
machinery at Great Yarmouth. En-
gland. 1t has four sails. which are 40
feet inches long by u feet inches
wide, and extend 100 feet from point to
point. With a wind of % miles an
hour, the windmill has So hGrsc power,
and will easily make 100 barrels of flour
in q hours. The building containing
the Touring apparatus and supporting
the motor i of IL stories. stands 80 feet
above foundation. and is 81 feet in
diameter ut the base and 16 at the top.
-ArEanSGw TrdUcIcr.
The Iowa State University has re-
Gently acquired fine specimen of the
extinct musk OK OF North America.
The bones, which are remarkably well
preserved. were uncarthed near the
Missouri river at Council BlHf7S in the
formation known to biologists rs the
loess. This creature, like the modern
musk OK, is supposed to have been
clothed With n long fleece, and the dis
covery of the remains at Council Bluff,
indicates that low temperature must
have prevailed in that region during the
period when the loess was accumulat-
ing, so that Arctic animals have found
the climate comfortable there. N. Y.
Ledger.
DIR. Holub. the African explorer,
after being plundered by savage tribes,
has arrived in England with his collec-
ton. This collection-a wreck only of
what was gathered by the industrious
explorer-filIs 147 cases. In it there are
COZ skins of quadrupeds ready for
stuffing, of which 20 are of animals rs
large as the koodOo-an antelope
heavier than the red deer; of birds
there are 1921 specimens. of insects
$4,000, including 21,OOO beetles and
5000 moths and butterflies. There are
also G, 500 specimens of plants. There are
/ 600 recorded observations in meteor
ology, and more than that number of
the measurements of elevations.
Paper window-glass is now said to
be an assured fact. As described: "A
is made of white paper,
from cotton or linen,
and modified by chemical action.
the paper is dipped in
preparation Of camphor and alcohol,
which makes it like parchment. From
this point it can be nodded and cut
into remarkably tough sheets entirely
and it can be dyed with
almost the whole of the anilinc colors,
the result being a transparent sheet,
showing far more vivid hues than the
best glass exhibits. Puddle Opinion.
-Gelsoline is the name of a new
resembling silk. A writer in
the Journal Commercial et Maritime
says of it that two students in Italy
have invented an apparatus, the object
of which is to substitute mulberry fiber
for cotton, and have given it the above
name. On removing the bark from !
the young shoots of mulberry trees. Il
fiber is found which in fineness and |
is not excelled by silk, and |
the object of the invention is to treat |
the bark and isolate the tibor by a me-
process. The English houses
are said to have already made offers &c
purchase the entire production ema-
mating from this novel process.